Blood on the Snow
by Moonsong Lunaris
Summary: A young filly arrives in Ponyville with terrible injuries and a horrifying story to bring to Princess Celestia. Will Twilight and her friends save the day again, or will Equestria fall to a creature far more dangerous and chaotic than Discord himself?


Pain. That was the first thing she noticed; her wings felt like they were on fire. The next was that she was on something soft. A bed? Now she sensed someone near. One? No, many... six voices, at least. Suddenly, the events of the past week came back to her in a flood, and she struggled to get upright, only to cry out in pain.

"Whoa, there, sugarcube. Take it easy," a soothing southern drawl from her left. With a groan she eased back down and cracked her eyes. A blur of colors slowly resolved into the form of six ponies, and a... dragon?

"YAY, she's awake! We _gotta_ have a party for her now!" squealed a bouncing, poofy-maned pink earth pony.

"Pinkie, darling, why on EARTH should we have a party now?" questioned a beautifully styled unicorn.

"Well,_** DUH**_, Rarity, to celebrate her recovery!" Pinkie laughed with a wide grin.

The baby dragon rolled his eyes and returned to gnawing on the large diamond he was eating.

A lavender unicorn with a pink streaked mane stepped forward, soft worry in her eyes. "Are you OK? You've been unconscious for three days..."

_Three days? That can't be..._ She licked her lips. "Please, could you tell me where I am?" Her voice was rough, her throat parched. A pink maned yellow pegasus shyly nudged a large glass of water over to her; she smiled weakly at the kind pony and drank gratefully.

The lavender pony spoke up. "You're in Ponyville. In the library to be exact. It's where I live, you see, it's really quite-"

A rainbow maned pegasus butted in. "Hey, she doesn't need the tour, Twi! I mean, she doesn't even know who we are!" The pegasus rolled her eyes before looking back at their guest. "The name's Rainbow Dash! Remember it when I join the Wonderbolts as the greatest flier in Equestria!"

The lavender mare pushed Dash aside. "Sorry. I get a little caught up sometimes. My name is Twilight Sparkle. The little glutton over there," she nodded to the dragon, "is Spike, my assistant." The dragon looked up and mumbled something through a mouthful of diamond that sounded rather like "hello."

An orange pony with a blonde mane stepped around to introduce herself. "Name's Applejack, of Sweet Apple Acres. Glad ta meet ya, miss."

The stylish unicorn stepped forward. "Rarity, darling, and you simply MUST let me give you a makeover when you are feeling better."

The yellow pegasus stepped-or rather, was pushed by Rainbow Dash- forward, with a look of vague terror on her face. "I... I..."

"Come on, quit being a little filly," Dash grumbled.

The shy one swallowed. "I'm... flutter... shy..." she mumbled before diving behind Applejack. "Sorry," the farmer pony said, "She kinda lives up to her name."

She was about to speak when the final member of the group bounced to withing an inch of her face. "Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie! I can't wait to throw you a **biiig** welcome party, with cake and cookies and ice cream and candy and party hats and streamers and cupcakes and-" Twilight's hoof put a quick stop to Pinkie's list. "She's a real partiholic," The unicorn grinned apologetically.

"I'm very glad to meet you, and grateful for your help," she struggled to get to her feet, "but I must get to Canterlot. is it far from here?"

The ponies glanced at one another nervously. "Umm, are you sure you should be traveling in your condition?" Twilight asked.

"My- my condition? What-" It was then she realized somthing was wrong. She could feel herself flapping her wings, but she could not hear them, nor could she feel the usual breeze from them. She craned her head to look, then let out a shrill cry. "My wings! What _happened_ to them?" She stared in horror and the bandaged remains of her beautiful wings, now stubby stumps.

Twilight's ears drooped. "Y-you were so badly hurt... we did all we could, but the damage..."

She bit back a sob. "It- it doesn't matter... I _must_ get to Canterlot,_ immmediately_. The fate of all of Equestria may depend on it."

"We'll help you!" Dash cried.

"Darn tootin' we will," Applejack said firmly; the others nodded.

Tear sprang to her eyes; she was touched by their generosity. "I'm grateful to you all, truly. But i dont want to put you in danger..."

"Pfft, danger-shmanger," Dash said succiently. "We face danger all the time."

Twilight nodded. "We aren't afraid. Helping ponies is what we do. But..." Twi cocked her head. "We never learned your name."

She blinked. "I'm sorry, I'm just... My name is Glacia. Glacia Frosthoof."


End file.
